My View: Tara B.

Tara B.
Montgomery, AL
Mother of two daughters – 8 and 5

I’m a working mom who…
…works from home (happily). I search for, and later negotiate, hotel deals for my customers that book large conferences and meetings. My clients, who are now my great friends, represent associations, government groups and corporations that need to hold meetings in a cost- and time-effective way despite this unstable economy planning. On my desk – computer, glass of Diet Coke, empty plastic organizers (that I had to have because they came in bright colors, but can’t decide what to put in them), photos, kids modeling clay, a Webkinz, hair ribbons from my daughters, a cookbook and a Judy Blume book.

This is what I did today…

• 6:15 am – Wake up oldest daughter for school, wait- first I make coffee then I wake up oldest. Make her breakfast, lunch, pack a snack and a water bottle, study for spelling or vocab test. Start thinking about dinner and throw a roast in the crock pot.
• 7:30 am – Kid #1 (3rd grader) leaves for school, kid #2 one wakes up.
• 8:30 am – Return and finish whatever hubby did not do, usually hair and clothes, take daughter to preschool at 9am
• 9:00 am – Work at home office/ once a week I go to second “job” as a volunteer at elementary school/ oh I can’t forget my bi-weekly run to Walmart
• 1:00 pm – Pick up kid #2- put her in front of the TV work more
• 3:00 pm – (3rd grader) Kid #1 comes home from school- make snacks- my “goal is to be finished with work by now” (maybe if I wasn’t online typing this profile I would get more done)
• 5:00 pm – Tennis or some outdoor activity with kids – to blow the stink off
• 6:00ish pm – Dinner is served depending on how much I was able to accomplish in the morning preparing. Husband would rather have dinner served during “blue plate hours”, but I haven’t figured out yet.
• 7:00 pm – Watch TV with family (or we divide and everyone gets a tube) kids watch Disney, parents watch network TV, if college football is on then that usually trumps my favs (Lipstick Jungle, Greys Anatomy) thank goodness for the DVR.
• 8:30 pm – Kids to bed
• 9:30 pm – Husband to bed; it’s my time!!!

My biggest career challenge since becoming a mom and how I overcame it…
I am still struggling with my home/work life balance. If I am on the computer I feel I should be doing laundry. If I am cleaning dishes, I feel I should be at work. And making the beds…forget about it.

I have hired someone to clean the house twice a month, that takes the pressure off a bit. And since we are back to two incomes I can financially support the decision. Absolutely no work on weekends… no one else is working so why should I. And I purchased a palm Treo, I can access email while out running errands or running the kids around.

My Top 3 Favs:

• Magazines… At one point I carried 11 subscriptions. Now I only subscribe to 3, but I don’t mind waiting in long grocery lines, it gives me a chance to read the mags. Some of my favs: InStyle, People, Self, US Weekly
• Lipgloss…I love, love, love Lancome glosses
• My Palm with internet access – in addition to work, it also comes in handy when you need to solve an argument with your friends at dinner…like the correct pronunciation of the word “conch”.

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